Today, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means (SWM) released its budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The $57.99 billion spending plan includes notable investments in higher education, early education, and mental and behavioral health; increasing spending over the FY 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by $1.9 billion (3.4 percent).

The SWM budget spends less than the Governor by $142.2 million (0.2 percent), and less than the House by $80.4 million (0.1 percent). Coming out of committee, the SWM budget is essentially level with HWM, including only $15.4 million more in spending. To support spending levels above and beyond FY 2024, the Senate’s spending plan relies on $1.15 billion in one-time resources and new revenue-generating initiatives.